Empty Nesters: Obsessing over beds in a box

Home and Market Editor Lisa Freedman and her husband just bought a house two hours outside of New York City. Yay! The only issue? They don’t have anything to put in it. Follow her as she shops, tackles some DIY projects and works her decorating magic.

After we closed (read: signed a million pieces of paper and handed over the biggest check we’ve ever written), our biggest priority was to get some beds. We only had the box springs from the previous owner, which made it hard to sleep there and get stuff done.

We needed to order something that could be shipped and left on our porch while we were in the city. To me, the solution was clear: I wanted to try out those super popular bed-in-a-box companies. I had spent a few hours on some for a story in our May issue and I was excited to give them a longer test run. We were in the market for four (4!!!) mattresses, and we decided to try four different options: Casper, Lull, Leesa and Ghost Bed.

Our UPS, FedEx and USPS workers must think we have a mail-order addiction.

Each one was ordered, shipped and delivered without a hitch. What I loved most was that these companies only offer one mattress (in the various sizes), so we didn't have to stress out about picking materials or firmness levels. The boxes were heavy, but it was so much easier to push them up the stairs than a flat, cumbersome mattress would have been. And actually, a king mattress, which we needed for the largest bedroom, would never have fit through our narrow staircase if it wasn't rolled up and vacuum-sealed. All four were packaged similarly: shrink wrapped inside a cardboard box. We opened each one in their respective rooms and watched in amazement as they literally unfolded in front of our eyes.

A man (not my husband) and a shrink-wrappedmattress. Image: Casper.

We've now slept on all four and we couldn't be more obsessed. They're firm, but not hard (the Ghost Bed is the firmest of all), and we have some of the best sleep of our lives on these beds. And, because they all have a foam core (instead of coils), they don't make a sound when my husband changes positions a million times. There are even more companies offering beds in a box now and, if the four I've tried are any indication, I imagine they're all great. There's even a new brand, called Sonno, which can be flip for different comfort levels.

The ability to sleep (well) up there is key. And now that we have beds, we can tackle the other empty rooms! Check back soon to see what we've been working on during our waking hours.